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Washington Nationals: Ryan Madson traded to the Dodgers

By Blake Finney

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 10: Ryan Madson #44 of the Washington Nationals pitches in the ninth inning for his first save of the year during a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park on April 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 10: Ryan Madson #44 of the Washington Nationals pitches in the ninth inning for his first save of the year during a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park on April 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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The Washington Nationals continue to offload their pieces, as the end of August approaches. Ryan Madson is the latest to leave as he heads to the Dodgers.

On Friday afternoon, Ryan Madson became the latest Washington Nationals player to be dealt in August. He’ll head out west to join the Los Angeles Dodgers in their bid to make the playoffs for a sixth straight season. Ken Rosenthal was the first to report that the Dodgers were acquiring Madson.

It’s the latest in a number of waiver trades that the Nats have made in the past couple of weeks. First, they traded Daniel Murphy to the Chicago Cubs and quickly followed it by flipping Matt Adams back to his first club, the St. Louis Cardinals.

It remains to be seen whether this will be the last deal that the Nationals swing today. Clubs around baseball will need to acquire players on August 31st in order to have them eligible for their postseason roster.

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Madson was acquired at the non-waiver trade deadline last season from the Oakland Athletics along with Sean Doolittle. The right-hander was excellent for the rest of 2017, as he recorded a 1.37 ERA in 20 appearances with the Nats.

But 2018 has been a completely different story for the right-handed reliever. He’s recorded a 5.28 ERA, and a 4.35 FIP that’s largely been caused by huge implosions. His HR/9 has ballooned up from 0.3 last season, all the way up 1.2 this year which is his highest since 2006.

He’s also blown three saves this season, recording only four while filling in for Doolittle at times over the course of the season. This includes his most notable meltdown when he gave up a walk-off home run to David Bote at Wrigley Field when trying to struggle through while he was hurt.

In return for Madson, the Nationals are getting Double-A reliever Andrew Istler from the Dodgers. Istler has a 2.37 ERA in 79.2 innings with 73 strikeouts across three levels in the Dodgers’ organization. On the whole, a good return for some that the Nats may well have let go for nothing.

Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reported that the Dodgers will be taking on all of the reliever’s remaining 2018 salary. Obviously, this was the main reasoning behind the trade, as dumping his salary will help to get under the luxury tax. And given they weren’t likely to re-sign him in the off-season there’s no harm in letting him go.

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